Sailing Vessel "Never Monday"

Wow, its been a busy 3 days,  and no good wifi for almost that long!! We arrived in Oswego, NY on tuesday afternoon and contrary ot what everyone says,  Oswego Marina HAS NO materials to build mast supports with!  Luckily there is a lumber store literally  a set of steps away! We spent the evening stripping the boat of all the sailing bits a bobs!  Wednesday morning we madly built a set of 3 supports.  One for each end and the middle support. The yard staff were great and got the rig down very quickly and safely!  We got compliments on the construction of our supports,  the yard manager said they usually have problems with the middle support being either too tall of too low!  ours fit just right!  After getting the masts secured (by this time is was just after noon) we headed out for our first locks on the Oswego section of the canal.  Ryan Sarah and Tracy handled  the lines like pro's ( sorry no photos as we were...

Finally, we're off!   After two and and a half summers of work we finally left the dock FOR REAL!!  Saturday morning September 9th we finally left our nice snug berth in Whitby and headed out onto the lake!  Bye Bye Whitby! The morning started out cool and calm with virtually no wind at all.  So we all bundled up with sweaters and fall coats to keep warm!  Of course Ryan used my gloves when we first cast off, so my gloves were wet while his gloves which were still nice and dry!  As the day continued the wind built up a bit, but not to much.  we only managed to see 8 knots of breeze on average. Our boat needs a bit more breeze to really get going We motor sailed the whole way across.  11 hours of watching this Anti-siphon discharge "peeing" is enough to make any trip seem soo much longer and trips to the bathroom more frequent!!  For those of you that don't know that's the discharge from the top of the anti-siphon loop for th...

The countdown has begun!! Were just 2 weeks from our planned departure date and the projects are still madly underway!  We just got back the plexiglass for our replacement hatches. and I have to admit they turned out great!! Aft cabin hatch The original hatches were vacuum molded plexi and were probably really nice when originally built in the 70's! The biggest issue I had with them is the oddball size!  the aft hatch I could have cut off the moulding in coamings and done alot of glass work to make a regular hatch fit,  but that idea ( for now) seemed way to involved!  So we built new hatches from African mahogany with smoked plexiglas tops bedded in Sikaflex. Forward cabin hatch!  Turned out pretty good too! We've spent the last 2 weeks getting the genoa luff tape replaced with the correct size for our new roller furling (oops)  buying a few engine spares (like the $120 water impeller!  Yikes!)  some extra filters,  connecte...

Well its been 2 weeks since I officially became unemployed! and the money has been flowing out faster than ever before!  in the last 2 weeks we've ordered 275ft of 5/16HT chain,  a Mantus 55lb anchor, a new outboard (more on that later) and a never ending series of seeming small purchase that together add up to a lot of 'boat units"!!   First we took down the mast to prep for the new furler and discovered that the "Metz" VHF antenna magically lost the stainless steel antenna part. ( how does that happen??)  so off to the shop to purchase a replacement!  then we had to purchase some exterior grade RJ45 cable, connectors and other bits to mount the wifi booster to the top of the mast ( the wifi at our marina is bad at the best of times!).  Thankfully all went well and we now have a new furler and the mast is back in place on the boat! New furler installed!! But there is no rest for the wicked!  with the furler up and installed it was into the anc...

First weekend of the new reality!! well that's it,  the end of my working me and the start of the cruising me ( well really we're still tied to the dock!)  still got a few projects to work on.  Tracy has managed to organize the shoe situation!  A quick shopping trip on Amazon and she had  the shoe rack she needed.  Cut the standard rack in half and we have one organizer in the front for the kids and another one in the aft head for the parents! Sarah seems to have found a good spot for reading on her ipad!!    We had a rigger come around to help us prep for Tuesday's main mast removal!  That way we'll have 24hrs to build the new furler, install the WiFi antenna and make a few other adjustments.  Things are starting to come together.  Hopefully Sunday we'll be able to get most of the old windlass removed (a-la sawzall!!)

Getting closer... Only a few days left at work and then I'm "gainfully unemployed"!!  For the first time in almost 30 years I don't have a job,the house has sold and closed, kind of a weird feeling!!  No grass to mow,  no snow to shovel,  no garbage days vs  recycling days...Just the family and the boat!!!  Well there are all the boat projects to finish...Just a few to do: Windlass install PV panels to install some minor electrical wiring Hot water plumbed to engine New furler to install Just a few things.  Good thing I have the whole month of August to get all of this done... Stay tuned for more updates!

Building a dodger.... We decided over the winter that we needed some shelter and protection in the cockpit.  At the Toronto International Boat Show in January we spoke to as many vendors as we could in one place which was  a good idea at the time.  What we didn't realize was either way it was going to take longer than we expected.  A traditional Sunbrella dodger came with the advantage that we didn't have to do anything other than contract it out,  the big disadvantage for us was they aren't particularly sturdy and as we have a center cockpit,  the boom and accompanying sail handling is more of a challenge with a soft dodger. We decided to build a "hybrid" hard top dodger with soft Sunbrella sides.  We liked this as we can still roll up the front panel for ventilation when needed but still have protected cockpit space when needed.  Off to the build we go! The Build... First  thing we had to do was decide how large the "hard top" port...

Woohoo!!!  Another step along the way!  The house went on the market and sold quickly. It was the linchpin in our plans!  The proceeds from the sale will go towards funding this trip and the last few big-ticket items we need. ( solar panels, windlass, chain and Mantus anchor!) There of course is still lots of work to be done!  We still need to finish the dodger (hardtop)  replace the Furler with the Harken ESP unit that we purchased during the winter.  Fix the Masthead VHF antenna that somehow fell off during the winter!